Putting a focus on gender inclusion and climate change in coffee production

European coffee companies, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) and Hanns R. Neumann Stiftung take much needed action.

• Through its gender component the initiative for coffee&climate drives change for women and climate change in coffee production.
• c&c promotes a higher involvement of women in the decision-making process of coffee farming households.
• 10.000 households will be reached in Tanzania, Guatemala and Honduras.

Hamburg, Germany December 20, 2018 – Together with Delta Cafés, Langen Kaffee, Tchibo, Lavazza, SIDA and Hanns R. Neumann Stiftung, the initiative for coffee&climate (c&c) is taking important actions and supports women in coffee producing regions in Tanzania and Central America to effectively respond to the effects of climate change. The project is not only closing the gap between gender and climate change in coffee production. It also contributes to a stronger involvement of women in joint decision-making processes on household-level. This supports operations and resilience of smallholder farming. Additional programming efforts include the stronger involvement of women into management and productive processes in farmer organizations.

In many rural regions (e.g. in Tanzania) women can do up to 90% of the field and harvest work. Thus, the effects of climate change like water scarcity are causing impact on women’s workload, time and daily activities. The promotion of climate-smart and time saving household practices, such as clean and efficient cooking stoves, solar energy and domestic rainwater harvesting are addressing women’s ‘time poverty’. This is increasing the household’s members’ health, helping them to save money and protecting the environment e.g. through less pressure natural resources like forests and water restoration simultaneously. The saved time allows farming households to jointly manage their farm, participate in agricultural trainings and farmer group activities which strengthen their economic performance.

With the support of Delta Cafés, Langen Kaffee, Tchibo, Lavazza, SIDA and Hanns R. Neumann Stiftung the project aims to reach 10.000 households in Tanzania, Honduras and Guatemala.

Read more about the background of the initiative for coffee&climate